According to legend, when Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang fought Poyang Lake, the two sides fought inextricably. After a long stalemate, no one can win. The two sides once concluded a "gentleman's agreement" to recuperate: a few months of truce, planting red flags at the junction of Pengze Yangzi, Poyang Yimen and Zhide Qingshan Bridge, the two sides did not invade each other. Zhu Yuanzhang led his troops to camp in Yingpanshan, Hongqijie. He deserves to be the best among people. His army was disciplined and did not commit crimes in autumn, which won the support of the local people. During the time of training day and night, saving energy and waiting for fighters, he pondered many unfavorable factors that affected the operation. He believes that soldiers often starve and fight long distances, which is the main reason for their long-term invincible. The dry food that soldiers bring is usually rice balls and fried rice noodles. When fighting in Poyang Lake, these dry grains will go bad when exposed to water. To this end, he found a local fellow-townsman, hoping to make a convenient and delicious dry food that won't be bad when it meets water.
The clever women in the red flag circle came up with a good idea: they washed the rice, steamed it in a steamer, cooled it, dried it, ground it into fine rice flour, blended it with boiling water, kneaded it evenly, kneaded the rice flour into egg-sized dough, poked a hole in the middle, put in the fried stuffing, sealed it, and steamed it thoroughly in the steamer. This kind of earliest steamed rice cake similar to glutinous rice balls was made. The more you chew it, the sweeter it becomes, and it is filled with fresh vegetable stuffing, so it is very delicious. Its biggest feature is that it is not afraid of flooding, not easy to rot, and will not be bad for ten days and a half. It's very convenient to carry at ordinary times, and you'll be full after eating two at a time. Soldiers eat steamed rice cakes. If there are immortals to help them in the battle, Zhu Yuanzhang also called this food "fairy rice cakes". The problem that plagued Zhu Yuanzhang was thus solved by the village women in the Red Flag World.
Speaking of it, Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang and established the Ming Dynasty, which was also the credit of steamed rice. It took a long time to evolve from rice cakes similar to glutinous rice balls to steamed rice cakes now. In appearance, people gradually changed the rice noodle ball into a bowl-shaped slice with ten fingers, wrapped it with stuffing and made it into a half-moon shape. This steamed rice cake is thin and stuffed, and it is more delicious than before.
The raw materials of stuffing are also very particular now. The main ingredients are generally one or two seasonal vegetables, such as beans, Chinese cabbage, radish and mustard, with dried bamboo shoots, diced mushrooms, vermicelli, tofu, shrimp and pork. When making stuffing, first cut the main ingredients into shreds, stir-fry them with vegetable oil or lard until they are half cooked, and then add appropriate seasonings such as onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, monosodium glutamate, salt and Chili powder. Before getting into the cage, spread banana leaves or zongzi leaves on the bottom of the cage, and put small leaves at the interval between pots, so that the steamed pots will not stick to each other and have a faint fragrance. For hundreds of years, people have made steamed rice cakes for children's centennial, one-year-old and old people's birthdays and festivals. When friends get together and guests come to their homes, steamed rice cakes are usually used to entertain guests.
After the reform and opening up, with the increasing communication between people, steamed rice cakes, a traditional food, have gone out of the boudoir, which is not only popular in the vast urban and rural areas of Pengze, but also can be seen in many other parts of the country. Moreover, with the increasing number of Pengze people going abroad, steamed rice cakes, a folk snack, have also been brought abroad.